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Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Derek and I were lucky enough to spend a long weekend with
some of our closest friends in the mountains of western North Carolina.One of the many perks of the weekend was the
continuous supply of delicious food and drink that everyone made all weekend long.For our part, my friend Taryn and I made
a brunch of homemade biscuits, veggie scramble, a wide array of breakfast meats, and some
zingy bloody maries.Later in the
weekend, Derek and I put together a dinner of plum-goat cheese-prosciutto-arugula toasts, barbequed pork sandwiches, peach-tomato-corn
salad, and peach slump with burnt sugar brandy ice cream for dessert.

Bloody Maries

The last time I was back to visit my parents, and my mom had
me go through her pantry of can goods from their garden to see what I would
want to take back with me, I debated for a while about taking tomato
juice.What would I use juice for that I
couldn’t just use stewed tomatoes for instead?The, it struck me, bloody maries.How great would a bloody mary be with homemade tomato juice canned from
tomatoes fresh from the garden?No added
flavors, no vast excess of sodium, no preservatives like the store-bought kind
often has. The recipe below is where that dream
landed me. I put exact amounts as a starting place, but feel free to change it up if you like yours spicier or saltier or horseradishier.

->Mix first seven ingredients in a large pitcher and pour
over ice in glasses, leaving room for vodka.Add vodka to your particular taste and state of mind and mix…Garnish with green olives threaded on
straws or your other favorite pickled veggies.

Goat Cheese Toasts with Plum Jam, Prosciutto, and Arugula

These are a great quick bite to throw together as you begin
cooking your main course so that you can keep your dinner guests occupied and
satisfied in the meantime.Switch up the
cheese or the jam for all different combinations.

Ingredients:

-1 baguette

-olive oil

-4 oz goat cheese (herbed or plain)

-4 oz plum jam

-1/4 lb prosciutto

-arugula

->Heat oven to 400.Slice baguette on an angle in ¾-inch slices.Place on a baking sheet.Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt.Toast in the oven until golden brown.

Remove from oven and slather with a smudge of goat cheese.Add a dollop of jam.Top with a leaf of arugula and a sliver of
prosciutto.Plate and use to fend off hungry guests until dinner time.

Tomato-Corn-Peach
Salad with Balsamic Glaze

This salad utilized our small late crop of sweet corn and
the tomatoes and peaches that are at their peak in our area in the late
summer.The three flavors of the sweet
corn, peaches, and cherry tomatoes are great compliments to one another.The salty feta and sweet tangy balsamic
glaze are a nice added contrast. Best of all, it’s not just tasty, but very
easy to throw together.

Ingredients:

-1/2 c balsamic vinegar

-1 Tbsp brown sugar

-5 peaches, pitted and cut in chunks

-1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved

-2 ears corn, kernels shaved off

-1 bunch basil, chopped

-3 oz feta cheese

-salt and pepper

-> Place balsamic and sugar in a small sauce pan over
medium heat.Simmer to reduce by about
half.

Meanwhile, combine peaches, tomatoes, corn, and basil.Crumble feta cheese over the salad and mix
gently.Check seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste.Drizzle with balsamic reduction when ready.

Peach Slump

This recipe is a twist on a pin[test] for a blueberry slump.After trying it out, I would
highly recommend it.The topping is like
a sweet biscuit with crunchy and chewing bits on the outside and a moist dough
interior.The fruit topping is built-in,
but lives on the bottom for this dish.The biscuit topping sops up all of the sweet peachy juices for a perfect
bite every time.

->Mix flour, 1/4 c sugar, baking powder, and 1/2 tsp salt.Grate frozen butter on the largest size of
your grater.Quickly add to flour-sugar
mixture.Mix in with pastry cutter, two
forks, or your fingers until the mixture is the texture of rough cornmeal.Add milk and stir until just mixed (i.e. until all of the dry mix is wet with the
milk).Do not over mix. Place in refrigerator until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine peaches, remaining sugar, remaining salt, and lemon juice in a medium skillet
that is oven-proof.(If you prefer less sugar here, I think you could get away with less. Our finished product was very sweet.) Bring to a boil and
then simmer until sugar is dissolved and peaches are tender.

When peaches are ready, turn off stove, put large spoonfuls of the biscuit
mixture on top of the stewing peaches.Sprinkle with sugar. You may want to put the skillet on a shallow pan before placing in the oven in order to catch any potential overflow. Bake in the
oven until biscuits are browned on top and peach mixture is thick and
bubbly.Top with ice cream and
serve.

TIP:If you don’t have an oven-proof skillet
(because the handle is plastic or rubber-coated), cover the handle completely
with aluminum foil, and it will be safe in the oven.

Thursday, September 13, 2012

I finally harvested a huge pile of eggplant from my 5 Udumalapet plants outside.They are star
producers!Aside from a few nibbles in
the leaves by flea beetles, they have given me no trouble at all and now are
producing like crazy!Their striped skin
with purples, white, and yellow make a great presentation.

I wanted to use up a bunch of small ones (each a little
smaller than a tennis ball) and show off their beautiful skins, so I decided to
try some stuffed eggplant.Much like
stuffed peppers, I could leave them whole and fill them with a
tomato-sausage-rice mixture, topped off with generous slices of fresh
mozzarella.

->Remove tops
from eggplant and a small amount from the bottoms in order to get them to stand
up straight.Use a paring knife and
spoon to scrape out the insides of the eggplants, leaving about a quarter inch
thick shell.Chop up removed eggplant
flesh to use later.

Squeeze sausage from casing and brown in a skillet at medium
heat.Once sausage has browned and
released enough fat to coat the skillet, add onion.Sauté until soft and then add pepper, chopped
eggplant flesh, and garlic.Once
vegetables are softened and well mixed, add rice and allow to sauté with vegetables
for a couple of minutes.Then add tomato
sauce, and season with salt and pepper and red pepper flakes if you like a
little more heat.Bring to a boil,
cover, and reduce heat.Simmer on
medium-low until liquid is mostly reduced and absorbed and rice is al
dente.

Fill carved out eggplant with rice mixture and arrange
eggplant in a baking dish.If you have
extra rice mixture, tuck it in around the eggplants in the dish.Top each eggplant with a generous slice of
fresh mozzarella.Garnish with a fresh
basil leaf, drizzle with olive oil, and season with salt and pepper.Bake at 350 degrees until cheese is melted,
bubbly, and just beginning to brown.

TIP:One down side of Udumalapet eggplant is that
they can be a little on the seedy side.In order to reduce the seeds in this recipe and to eliminate any of the
bitterness sometimes found in eggplant, I recommend the following:As you scrape out the eggplant, soak both the
scraped out eggplant “cups” and the flesh in heavily salted water until you are
ready for them.The salt water bath will
keep them from turning brown and reduce some of the bitterness.An added bonus is that much of the seeds will
soak to the bottom of the bowl, but the flesh will float.This way you can skim off the flesh from the
top of the water when you are ready to use it, but leave the seeds in the
bottom to dispose of or to prep for seed saving!

Monday, September 10, 2012

This meal was easy to throw together and resulted in juicy, flavor-packed chicken and a side filled to the brim with nutrient-rich veggies and whole grains. Broccoli may just be coming into season for many of us now. Feel free to substitute broccoli raab, cabbage, or another one of your favorite green veggies.

->Place thighs into a small roasting pan or casserole. Coat with soy sauce, vinegar, and jam to begin marinating a bit as you prep the rest.

*NOTE: I used leftover brown rice for the broccoli fried rice, but if you need to cook
yours, you'll want to get it going before you start with the rest of
your prep, as it can take 30-40 minutes to cook.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. At this point, I placed the garlic, ginger, cilantro, lime, and lemon verbena in a small food processor to make a paste. However, you could also just mince and chop these ingredients and then combine. Add this paste to the marinating thighs, rubbing it under and on top of the skin.

Place in oven to roast until the thighs reach 165 degrees in internal temperature and/or juices run clear (about 30 minutes).

-> While thighs cook, start the the broccoli fried rice. Bring a large skillet or wok to medium heat, and coat with oil. Saute onions until tender, and then add garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Allow to cook until onions absorb the sauces. Add broccoli and cover to steam until almost fork-tender. Just before broccoli is ready, add carrot. Saute for a short while more until carrots and broccoli are just tender. Add rice and toss. Top with chopped fresh cilantro.

TIP: Because I was lazy and left my broccoli in the refrigerator without placing it in a bag first, it had gotten a little floppy. I soaked my chopped broccoli pieces in some ice water before cooking to bring them back to life, making them crisp and new again.

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About Me

Shoots and Platters is a blog dedicated to the pursuits of the garden and the kitchen. Amanda and Derek aim to share their experiences from the yard to the table! Feel free to leave comments and tips for us about the garden, the kitchen, and living more sustainably in both.